Ieng Sary

September 15, 1996 | Floyd Abrams and Diane F. Orentlicher, Floyd Abrams, a constitutional lawyer and professor of First Amendment law at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and Diane F. Orentlicher, law professor and director of the War Crimes Research Office at American University, are the authors of "Kampuchea: After the Worst" (Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights)

Too often in the second half of this century, countries racked by crimes against the human condition have faced a tormenting dilemma: whether to compromise the law of universal conscience in the service of national unity.

NEW DELHI -- The death Thursday of one of the last senior leaders of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime before his trial concluded underscores flaws in the war-crimes tribunal process that threaten to undermine the pursuit of global justice, according to lawyers, human rights activists and victims. Ieng Sary, 87, who died after a battle with heart disease and high blood pressure, was co-founder and foreign minister of the Khmer Rouge. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians, one quarter of the nation's population at the time, died of disease, starvation, forced labor and execution during its 1975-79 reign.

Premier Hun Sen declared Monday that he is willing to deal directly with Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan to seek a political settlement of the Cambodian war. "We will allow the Khmer Rouge party to have a role to play in the negotiations and a role to play in the solution," the premier of the Vietnamese-backed government said in an interview in his offices in Phnom Penh.

Three top Khmer Rouge leaders accused of helping mastermind Cambodia's "killing fields" in the 1970s went on trial in Phnom Penh on Monday as hundreds of victims and curious onlookers arrived at the court from around the country to witness the proceedings. The U.N.-backed trial is expected to take months. Furthermore, there's often been a significant delay in past tribunals between the end of testimony and the verdict. This reflects in part the highly political nature of these proceedings in a nation where feelings about that brutal period of history are still raw and many of those who served in the Khmer Rouge remain prominent in society.

Breakaway Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary, sentenced to death for his role in the killing of more than 1 million Cambodians, said Monday that he had negotiated a cease-fire with the Cambodian government but that more talks were needed for a comprehensive settlement. Sary, foreign minister during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule of terror, initially appeared nervous before scores of reporters flown by helicopter to this northwestern town.

Three top Khmer Rouge leaders accused of helping mastermind Cambodia's "killing fields" in the 1970s went on trial in Phnom Penh on Monday as hundreds of victims and curious onlookers arrived at the court from around the country to witness the proceedings. The U.N.-backed trial is expected to take months. Furthermore, there's often been a significant delay in past tribunals between the end of testimony and the verdict. This reflects in part the highly political nature of these proceedings in a nation where feelings about that brutal period of history are still raw and many of those who served in the Khmer Rouge remain prominent in society.

NEW DELHI -- The death Thursday of one of the last senior leaders of Cambodia's brutal Khmer Rouge regime before his trial concluded underscores flaws in the war-crimes tribunal process that threaten to undermine the pursuit of global justice, according to lawyers, human rights activists and victims. Ieng Sary, 87, who died after a battle with heart disease and high blood pressure, was co-founder and foreign minister of the Khmer Rouge. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians, one quarter of the nation's population at the time, died of disease, starvation, forced labor and execution during its 1975-79 reign.

Hundreds of hard-line Khmer Rouge guerrillas in at least five divisions have agreed to join Cambodian government forces. Analysts said the move would put pressure on Ieng Sary, foreign minister during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime, to speed up the process of reconciling his forces with the government. Ieng Sary began merger talks after receiving a royal pardon Sept. 14 from a death sentence for his role in the genocide of more than 1 million Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge's rule.

Police detained former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and took him to Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal today for prosecution. Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, had been brought to court according to a warrant issued by the tribunal, but he gave no details of the charges they faced.

King Norodom Sihanouk granted amnesty Saturday to a Khmer Rouge rebel leader widely blamed for involvement in the deaths of as many as 2 million people, including members of the royal family. Sihanouk apparently bowed to the wishes of the country's two co-premiers, who hope the pardon for Ieng Sary will help end two decades of civil war.

September 15, 1996 | Floyd Abrams and Diane F. Orentlicher, Floyd Abrams, a constitutional lawyer and professor of First Amendment law at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and Diane F. Orentlicher, law professor and director of the War Crimes Research Office at American University, are the authors of "Kampuchea: After the Worst" (Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights)

Too often in the second half of this century, countries racked by crimes against the human condition have faced a tormenting dilemma: whether to compromise the law of universal conscience in the service of national unity.

Breakaway Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary, sentenced to death for his role in the killing of more than 1 million Cambodians, said Monday that he had negotiated a cease-fire with the Cambodian government but that more talks were needed for a comprehensive settlement. Sary, foreign minister during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule of terror, initially appeared nervous before scores of reporters flown by helicopter to this northwestern town.

Premier Hun Sen declared Monday that he is willing to deal directly with Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan to seek a political settlement of the Cambodian war. "We will allow the Khmer Rouge party to have a role to play in the negotiations and a role to play in the solution," the premier of the Vietnamese-backed government said in an interview in his offices in Phnom Penh.

Politicians struggled over how to handle the case of a Khmer Rouge leader implicated in the deaths of 2 million Cambodians during the 1970s but now negotiating peace with the government. King Norodom Sihanouk--at varying times an ally, foe and prisoner of the Khmer Rouge--says only overwhelming public support would persuade him to pardon dissident leader Ieng Sary.

Khmer Rouge dissidents won support from Cambodian Second Prime Minister Hun Sen for a pardon for their leader, renegade revolutionary Ieng Sary. Hun Sen and a three-member dissident delegation held daylong negotiations in Sisophon aimed at cementing a break in the Khmer Rouge that may hasten an end to Cambodia's civil war.